4 Steps To Being A Good Party Guest

Evening gents! Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I’ve extremely busy with work and performances, but from this point, I’m going to try and get a post out once a week. Anyways, onto the topic of today’s post!

So the holidays are in full swing, now that Thanksgiving has just recently passed and Christmas is on the horizon. And with the holidays now going strong, it’s likely that many who read this will be or have already been invited to a holiday party of some sort. Now, for those attending a party, it can be a great time to relax and spend time with friends. However, for the host, they will be incredibly stressed out trying to get the food ready, keep the guests entertained, and generally keep things moving along. If you follow these simple steps, not only will it ease the host’s stress but it will also create a much better environment for the other guests. So, before this turns into a full-length novel, let’s start the list!

1. Make sure to RSVP

Now, this is something that can help the host before the party even begins. “RSVP” stands for “Réspondez s’il vous plait,” which is “please respond” in French. If an invitation requests that you RSVP, it simply means that the host wants to know whether or not you will attend. Unfortunately, in recent years, people have started to view the RSVP as optional, even though it’s one of the most important things you can do to show respect to your host. When you RSVP, you are helping your host prepare various things for the party, i.e. how much food to prepare, where to hold the party, and how many places at the table to prepare if it’s a dinner party. If you don’t RSVP, you end up leaving your host guessing as to how many people to prepare for, which only creates more stress for them.

2. If it’s a dinner party, offer to bring something

Speaking of dinner parties, the biggest part of a dinner party is, obviously, the dinner. Your host will obviously be scrambling to get everything ready for all their guests. So in order to ease some of that stress, offer to bring something to help them. A gentleman never arrives empty-handed. When you RSVP, just ask if you can bring something. Such things can be an hors d’oeuvre, a salad, a dessert, or even a bottle of wine (if you’re older than 21, that is). And it doesn’t have to be anything extremely elaborate, it can just be a plate of cheese & crackers, a pan of brownies, or a simple tossed-together bowl of salad. Doing so will not only put less stress on your host, but also add some variety to whatever is being served.

3. Come with conversation in mind

Don’t be the burnout. The whole reason you even go to the party in the first place is to hang out with friends and have a good time, but if you’re not prepared to talk to them, you’ll just end up bored and embarrassed. Think of some conversation topics on your way over. You could talk about a recent trip you went on, a movie you saw recently, something colloquial. Another thing is to consider the host and other guests. What are they interested in? What to you and they have in common? And just like in my last post about how to date, divisive and controversial subjects like politics and religion should generally be avoided.

4. Eat and drink responsibly

Finally, we come to possibly the most important part of the list: don’t overdo it! If you come to a party absolutely starving, piling everything you can onto your plate, you’ll just look like a slob, which would be embarrassing to the host as well as other guests. On the other hand, don’t come to the party completely stuffed, and unwilling to eat anything. This is simply rude to your host, as they have prepared all this food for you, yet you don’t want to eat it. And as far as drinking goes (again, only if you’re over 21), just know your limits. Don’t leave the party feeling like you could pass out on their front porch as you’re leaving. But you should never arrive after having a few drinks either.

So there we go! Follow these four (4) steps and you’ll be on your way to being the life of any party (but hopefully not the center of attention). Hopefully if you follow them, your host will not only invite you to more of their parties, but they’ll most likely accept invitations to your own parties. Be sure to follow me on all my social media, all found on the front page of the blog, and let me know how all your party experiences go! So until next time gents, this is Max from Men in the Making and I’ll see you next time!